Rehearsing In Tacoma

It's seventwentyfiveam on octoberseventh. I am just waking up for the second day of rehearsals for our December 8th recording date at Abbey Road. 

I flew to Tacoma after a busy few days in San Francisco attending the AES show, where I picked up a minor cold. But the excitement of these rehearsals has been keeping my cold at bay.

Yesterday, Tim and I got together at his studio and worked on vocal arrangements for his song, 'Don't Blink.' I believe we have the song in very good shape, so we put down the basics for a scratch track. This morning, we'll put down those basics for my song, 'It's Girls' and then we'll start an actual dry run of recording both songs. Since we have to record and mix both in one day at Abbey Road, this will be a good test and a challenge to stay focused on what we have to do.

Our voices are a little rough, but are better than I thought they might be. I think we've both been singing more this year than we have in the past 20 or so, so voices are getting stronger. And the songs have really come together. They are strong, and have strong arrangements.

So, now the challenge is to practice them to the point that they are second nature to allow us to not have to worry about the parts at Abbey Road, but let us just relax into playing them.

Easy, no?

Anyway, I fly out tomorrow morning, back to Rochester until we convene in London 4 days before we are scheduled to record. Plenty of time to practice all of this.

And you know what? It'll be on us in no time at all and it's entirely possible that Tim and I will be sitting at this very table having lunch...

Twelve Eight o Eight

Finally. After months of delay and mild procrastination I announce with jubilation, Tim and Bob have a studio recording date at Abbey Road. TaDA.... December 8th!!!!!! 

Finally!!! This year has dragged on with endless bothersome things like...work...which got in the way of THE recording session that won't be denied. But no more. We go.

Yes, December 8th we show up at the front door of #3 Abbey Road with our little guitars and drumsticks in tow for a full day of recording like a Beatle.

So, be a friend would you and pass the Pepto, as Bob and I are now both officially queasy. The reality seems to be sinking in the gut region. And we thought this would be a breeze. We are not even close to being ready. But we will be. Will we ever.

Our Blog will now have frequent postings with up-to-date reality checks. Pull up a chair, as a splendid time is guaranteed for all. 

On a more sombre note, as many of you know, December 8th also marks the anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Most people remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard of this tragic and senseless murder...I was watching football on TV when the shocking news was announced. Click here to watch the first public announcement. 

Memories From Two Different Brains

OK. We have to get this out of the way first... What I said to Tim was NOT that his song, "Don't Blink" had the ingredients to make a "nice little diddy." What I said was "this song is so f#$%^ing full of hooks it's at least 3 hit songs in one!!!!"

I mean, I hate to point out what turning 50 can do to one's memory. Clearly, one of us is remembering wrongly (hint - it's him).

So, the rest of what he says is right on the money. Tim and I had an iChat rehearsal a few weeks ago, which was a blast. We kicked ideas back and forth for "Don't Blink" and came up with a good approach. A couple nights later, I put my interpretation of what we talked about down in Logic and did a quick mix. My vocals were the couple of lines that Tim mentions, repeated over and over with some sort of humming and nonsense lyrics thrown in where there are none yet. I did three tracks - lead and a set of harmony backgrounds - and I gotta say they were absolute rubbish - out of tune, out of time, out of my league. But, thanks to todays modern tools, I was able to bend the recordings into tune and cut them up to make the timing right.

I did my best Beatle backgrounds and, perhaps, one day when the Anthology of this project comes out, you'll get to hear the demos.

I gave my take to Tim, who has been adding some stupendous drum parts. And most recently, he's shown me his "Wall Of Sound" remix with huge drums and bass. It's sounding great!

My tune, as Tim notes, is called "It's Girls." And I did complete the demo in one day - New Year's Day. But in all fairness, it was a song that I'd started WAAAY back in the late 1980s to sing with my then band Personal Effects. At the time, I had a couple of verses and a couple of choruses, and the music was completely different. For this demo, I rewrote the words and came up with an entirely new melody. I had a blast doing the demo, singing at the top of my lungs, and learning how to get those wonderful Liverpool sounds out of my guitar and bass.

The demo ends up sounding like BeatlesBeachboys-amatic - as if you tossed them into a blender and got a surfing on the Thames kind of sound.

So, the next step is for Tim to get off his duff and finish up some words. I've offered to have a lyric rehearsal so he could get some feedback in real time - a real John and Paul approach. I hope he takes me up on it.

Anyway, I think it's clear that we've got two giant hits on our hands. All we have to do is get to England, record and mix them in a day, get them out into the market, get some musicians to tour with, make a trillion dollars and fend off the groupies.

I am looking forward to the England part AND the trillion dollars. I have my own groupies at home...

Time Sure Do Pass Don't It?

Sorry for the long time no talk. So..let's update shall we?

2008 New Years Resolution found me standing in front of the world wide mirror vowing to lose some weight, get into shape...and most importantly starting voice lessons, bass lessons, and writing a hit song.

Well, Nadda. Zip. Nothing. But YES!!!! to the procrastinating!!! I SO rock at that. 

With the arrival of Spring however...progress is about to be made. Not on the weight front..geez...no...but real important stuff like my song. It hath been mostly written but not yet sung. What I mean by that is I lack just a few things...like actual lyrics. Bob has been keen to use several working phrases that now are permanently etched into my feeble brain blocking me even more.  Anyway, my song does have a title which is...drum roll please.."Don't Blink". The song has progressed from my working title of "Don't Stink". 

"Funny, the only thing that separates Stink from Blink is a single letter"  Nigel Tufnel...Spinal Tap

I have had great help and encouragement from close friends Bill Davie and Roland Burdge...both of whom are gifted musicians and even more talented friends. The song passed their smell test and I got a couple of very usable phrases.

Musically, Bob has reassured me that "Don't Blink" contains all the necessary ingredients to make a nice little diddy. Whatever that means...

Speaking of Bob. His song was written on the day he intended to write it and as expected...perfect right out of the can. Titled "It's Girls" this song has all the designated hooks one would expect from a Beatles junkie. I'll let him tell you all about it if he chooses to write a line or two on the blog.  As his designated studio drummer he has instructed me to emulate not Ringo Starr but an automated drummer named "The Remulac 8000" which plays 120 beats per minute in perfect tempo. Plus I hear the Remulac doesn't drink all the beer and steal the guitar players girlfriend after the gig.

Okay gotta jog to the fridge. More later.

Love Me Do

2 Minutes, 23 Seconds.

The Beatles first "A" side record,  "Love Me Do" was 2 Minutes, 23 Seconds. 

So, the way I look at it, I'm just 2 Minutes, 23 Seconds short of a Hit Song.

I can come up with the 4 Chords, it's just the Lyrics and Hook Line that are graying my hair even more than it already is.

Let's really examine the first verse.

Love, Love Me Do

You Know I Love You

I'll Always Be True

So Pleeeeease......Love Me Do. 

Man, those simple words launched quite a career for four lads from Liverpool.

I really must stop over-thinking the lyrics.

Regret Minimization FrameWork

Just heard that description from an interview with Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos. His reason for starting Amazon was to "Regret Minimization FrameWork". I thought it quickly summed up the description of what this journey to Abbey Road is for me personally. No regrets when I'm 80 (if I make it that far).

So we (Tim and Bob) plod on to our goal of recording in Studio 2 at Abbey Road. Speaking of which, a feeble attempt has been undertaken by moi to actually begin writing my "hit song". Over the last several weeks nothing even close to a "A-Side" single has flowed from my Fender Stratacaster guitar. so here is my
Mr. Obvious Realization #1... This is hard.
Go Figure. Who could have known?

I'm going to write (gasp) a Pop Song. A song like the Beatles would have recorded at Abbey Road in 1964 or whereabouts. Lyrics about girls probably. Key of G... or maybe not.

So...back to practicing and writing.

Lyrics? Chords? Talent? ...Don't fail me now...

_Tim

The Stuff of Dreams - Literally

15. That's how old I was when Abbey Road, the album, was released in 1969. Of course, by then, I was already hopelessly afflicted with Beatlemania - a very real and documentable disease. 

I had been a fan since before the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. My sisters get credit for bringing them to my attention. I was also a very early entrepreneur. Seeing how my sisters and their friends would go ga ga over anything Beatles, I realized that if I spent 25 cents on a magazine, I could cut out the 20 or so large photos and sell them for a nickel apiece... a tidy profit! (Wish I could make that kind of return today). Finally seeing them perform on Ed Sullivan made me realize that keeping the magazines intact meant more to me than the money.

Starting with Introducing The Beatles, I was in line to get every new record the day it was released. Woolworths sold the mono albums for $3.47 and the singles for 99 cents, and was only a mile or so from my house.  Stereo albums, a dollar more, were to come en masse later when I realized that I actually had a collection to maintain.

The release of the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields single in early 1967 was a turning point for me. Those incredible new sounds were absolutely exciting. I began to follow the progress of the recording of the Sergeant Pepper album, tracking down every tidbit I could find in the media. I found and began to frequent a store called Worldwide News, which carried magazines from around the world - to point, magazines from England. Through New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Beat and Rave, as well as American books such as Teen Datebook (which published excerpts from The Beatles Monthly magazine), Teen Set and even 16 Magazine, I was able to chart almost daily progress on Sgt Pepper.

The thing that really began to pique my interest was the side story - the bits about the studio and how it worked. How 4-tracks could be stacked to combine 4 cohesive performances. How vocals could be double tracked to let two John Lennons be on the same recording! How tracks could be processed to have that phase shifted or flanged sound. Little did I realize that these guys were making all this stuff up as they went!

By the time Abbey Road, the album, came out, I pretty well knew Abbey Road, the studio, vicariously. I knew about the 8-track recorder coming in. I knew about the Beatles failed attempt to build a good studio in the Apple building (and their subsequent return to Abbey Road). I knew about George Martin and Geoff Emerick's production and engineering techniques. And I dreamt that one day I'd get to record at Abbey Road.

53. That's how old I am now. Thanks to Tim's midlife crisis, it appears that dream is becoming a reality. I can't think of a better partner in this quest. We played together for the first time this past fall, and it was as if we'd always been doing it. Just like the Beatles, we have studio time booked to record our next single. All we have to do is write it. Just like the Beatles...

We can do this...

Bob